Former graffiti artist Tyson Andree has fine arts works in a group exhibition in Adelson Galleries Boston through June 30.

Graffiti gained popularity as art on New York City subway trains in the 1970s. Andree says he’s been told that it was artists named Gene, short for Genius, and Sen2 who brought it to Boston around 1980. He says his history of the Boston graffiti scene comes from an artist named Click, one of the originators of Boston’s graffiti scene.

By 1983, Boston had a full-blown graffiti culture. The elevated Orange Line route that ran through Roxbury was a particular hot spot, with graffiti works lining roofs and high walls within view of passing trains.

More than two decades later, balanced on a girder over the iron-gray water of the Charles River, Andree, now 33, is going by the name Caype, and he must be one of the most prolific and longest active graffiti writers in Boston’s history. It’s also a chapter in his life he’s trying to move past.

He is the first graffiti artist to be represented by the Adelson Galleries Boston, which deals primarily in artwork by contemporary and modern masters like Jim Dine, Andrew Wyeth, Alex Katz, and others. Andree is included in a group show titled “Ten Artists,” which runs through June 30.

Some of his works on paper have also been included in Barry McGee’s exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

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– S O L D O U T –

*All of the proceeds go directly to the contributing artists’ defense lawyers and commissaries. These crazy graffiti writers lifestyles require legal funds. So support the cause and get a great collection of art at the same time. Any size donations appreciated, larger donations get larger thank yous! So (speaking for all of us) thanks in advance for your support.

OD crew wasn’t being pushed anymore, partly due to a “bad apple” bumming out everyone. Something had to give, and it was either retire the crew or clean it up and move on. Bad apple removed.. new apples added.
Welcome to the family Caype OD.